Buying 3DS help?

[Obsessionist]

So I'm interested in buying a 3DS, hopefully a 3DS XL. I'd like to save some money, though. I'd ideally like to find one around $140 or less. I've found a few good deals on Ebay, but have a couple questions for you guys that Google refused to give me clear answers on.

 

1. I live in the US. A bunch of 3DS's are marked PAL. Is the PAL label even applicable to handhelds? If they're being sold from other US states, I'd think they would be able to play US-bought games and VC games, but I don't want to find out that the console's incompatibility is whay it's up for sale and get ripped off.

 

2. Is it worth it to get a refurbished console? Are refurbished consoles legal/reliable?

 

3. Any other things I should watch out for?

 

Thanks guys!

 

[Kanakalackin]

Here are my answers:

 

1. I have no idea what PAL means.

 

2. Refurbished systems ARE legal and work at least 75% of the time. I've had three MP3 players that were refurbed and they worked greatly!

 

3. Watch out for obvious fallacies on EBay. I've known many people who were ripped off from it. Sometimes people will list something broken as "like new". Carefully look through the photos and request a video of the console in action. Those are the best ways to garuntee a good deal.

[Blessed Blade]

1. You can't play games from different regions; so if you have a NA system, you can't play PAL games, and vice versa, and same with Japanese systems and games and those rules. Region Locking is horrible, but is in practice here.

[Kanakalackin]

Okay, in that case, go to A certain video website. There's probably a way around the PAL/NA issue.

Edited June 10, 2013 by Phantom Terror

[Blessed Blade]

No, there isn't. There's no way around the region locking right now, aside from getting a system of that particular region.

[iPenguin]

2. Yes, totally legal. Nintendo is selling them from their website.

[GSR]

1. As said above, the 3DS is region-locked, so if you want to play US games, you'll need a US console.

2. Refurbished consoles are perfectly legal, and in most cases no less reliable than new ones.

3. If you're buying a normal 3DS rather than an XL, you may not want to buy a very old used one (from near launch) - early models had a defect where the top screen would touch the inside bottom half when you closed it, leading to scratches over time. In any event, you might want to pick up some screen protectors.